Thursday, January 7, 2016

NOAA archaeologists have discovered the battered hulls of two 1800s
whaling ships nearly 144 years after they and 31 others sank off the
Arctic coast of Alaska in one of the planet's most unexplored ocean
regions.

Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September 1871, including the George, Gayhead, and Concordia.

Scanned from the original Harper’s Weekly 1871, courtesy of Robert Schwemmer Maritime Library.

The shipwrecks, and parts of other ships, that were found are most
likely the remains of 33 ships trapped by pack ice close to the Alaskan
Arctic shore in September 1871.
The whaling captains had counted on a
wind shift from the east to drive the ice out to sea as it had always
done in years past.
The ships were destroyed in a matter of weeks, leaving more than
1,200 whalers stranded at the top of the world until they could be
rescued by seven ships of the fleet standing by about 80 miles to the
south in open water off Icy Cape.
No one died in the incident but it is
cited as one of the major causes of the demise of commercial whaling in
the United States.

This map shows the area that was surveyed during the Search for the Lost Whaling Fleets expedition. Image courtesy of M. Lawrence/NOAA.

With less ice in the Arctic as a result of climate change,
archaeologists now have more access to potential shipwreck sites than
ever before.
In September, a team of archaeologists from the Maritime
Heritage Program in NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries scoured
a 30-mile stretch of coastline in the nearshore waters of the Chukchi
Sea, near Wainwright, Alaska.
Previous searches for the ships had found
traces of gear salvaged from the wrecks by the local Inupiat people, as
well as scattered timbers stranded high on the isolated beaches that
stretch from Wainwright to Point Franklin.

The shipwreck remains located off Point Franklin represent 19th century
wooden ship construction. The wood frames are likely from the lower
portion of the vessel near the turn of the bilge.

The wooden pegs, seen
here on a section of ship hull, are known as treenails and were used to
fasten pieces of wood together, and in this case they were used to
attach the exterior hull planking or interior ceiling planks.

Image courtesy of Robert Schwemmer/NOAA .

Using state-of-the-art sonar and sensing technology, the NOAA team
was able to plot the "magnetic signature" of the two wrecks, including
the outline of their flattened hulls.
The wreck site also revealed
anchors, fasteners, ballast and brick-lined pots used to render whale
blubber into oil.
"Earlier research by a number of scholars suggested that some of the
ships that were crushed and sunk might still be on the seabed," said
Brad Barr, NOAA archaeologist and project co-director.
"But until now,
no one had found definitive proof of any of the lost fleet beneath the
water. This exploration provides an opportunity to write the last
chapter of this important story of American maritime heritage and also
bear witness to some of the impacts of a warming climate on the region's
environmental and cultural landscape, including diminishing sea ice and
melting permafrost."

James Delgado, maritime heritage director for NOAA's Office of
National Marine Sanctuaries, said he believes the wrecks were pressed
against a submerged sand bar that rests about 100 yards from shore.
Working from first-hand accounts of the loss of the fleet, he said the
ice opened the hulls to the sea and tore away the upper portions of the
ships, scattering their timbers on the beach, while the lower hulls,
weighted down with ballast, and in some cases still anchored, stayed in
place against the sand bar.
"Usually, the Arctic does not destroy ships if there is a natural
obstacle like a sand bar, large rocks or a sheltered cove to partially
divert the force of tons of ice," Delgado said.

Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September 1871,
including the Monticello, Kohoa, Eugenia, Julian, Awashonks Thom
Dickason, Minerva, Wm. Rotch, Victoria, and Mary.

Wainwright Inlet is in
the background.

Courtesy of Ted and Ellie Congdon, Huntington Library.

On Sept. 12, 1871, the captains of the 33 whaling ships caught in the ice convened aboard the Champion
to consider their options for saving the 1,219 officers, crew, and in
some cases, families, from their fate.
Although, their situation was
dire, there was some small glimmer of hope for rescue by seven nearby
ships.
However, to save such a large party, the rescuing whale ships had to
jettison their precious cargoes of whale oil, bone and their expensive
whaling gear to make room for the survivors.
The rescue ships were able
to sail safely out of the Arctic and back to Honolulu, where hundreds of
native Hawaiian whalers aboard the stranded vessels lived, while others
sailed on to San Francisco, New Bedford and other cities.